A couple of weeks ago, the government was pointing the finger at the consumer ... we aren't spending enough money! Now, we're not working hard enough. It's all our fault, you see.
The idiocy of this is appalling, but then they have to blame somebody. Bush always takes the blame, but he never accepts responsibility, so it has to be our fault!
How can it be the fault of the workers? The working person has no choice. These rich guys at CNN Money have forgotten something ... we don't have the LUXURY of sloth! If productivity is down, then they need to look into the eyes of the overseer, not into the people on the plantation. We can't through sheer force of will compel ourselves to work for the betterment of an entity that views us as the enemy. "Right to work" states indeed. When has the poor man had the right NOT to work?
But then, this breed of modern corporation flies the flag of Thomas Malthus. Comfort is now the enemy, not the end.
In the years since Reagan started destroying unions, the boss and employee have become default enemies. My friend's company makes record profits and yet the corporation opposes every possible wage increase ... benefit improvement ... anything to benefit the employee. They look only at the monetary bottom line without looking at the far more important supply line that needs to be maintained -- the spirit of their work force. Who is going to help their opponent? When you treat someone like the enemy, they generally will become your enemy. We're supposed to work for the betterment of a company that is working against us?
And yet we know the old, humane style of business still works best. Newman's Own, Paul Newman's wonderful company, is a perfect example of "doing corporate right". Ben and Jerry's is another. Google, yet another. We know it works.
If it isn't done ... if the model is not the method ... it's due to an emotional need to assert some right of dominance over the masses. It's a psychopathic jackboot in the teeth of the people -- nothing less, nothing more. There is no logic behind it. If logic was at work, we'd all be working for Ben and Jerry's or Google. Instead, sociopathy rises to the top quickly, which is why we have the prevailing business model we do. And why we need a sane government to keep the monsters in check.
And if unions sometimes mollify and protect inept workers, and they do, then this is an artifact of the modern loss of trust -- and the long shadow of 13 year old boys who lost their hands and livelihoods to heartless machines. The so-called inflexible unions grew out of the empty promises of the Straw Boss and the cold-hearted calculation of the Overseer.
If the Bossman has become the enemy, he has cast himself in the role.
The vanishing mountains of the US south now ooze coal-poisoned rivers. West Virginia mines take lives every day in small ways, and not merely in the big headline-grabbing ones. Our heartland factories have become standing death traps the employees are nailed inside because they aren't allowed the small humanity of a bathroom break. Our Florida tourist trap employees can only afford to sleep in cars. Walmart employee must resort to state medical care. OSHA is a joke. Social security is a passing dream.
The slavering jowls of the robber-barons now savor a future without the small measures FDR put in place for simple human dignity.
And Robert Murray, co-owner of Murray Energy, owner of the Utah mines that this month saw several precious lives swallowed up in full view of the glassy stare of the governmental whores in attendance, calmly suggests he may re-open the mine. He just doesn't "get" why people are upset.
Gosh, Bob, maybe there are more important things in the world than another million dollars. Every loved one of every life extinguished at the bottom of that mine would give up every penny they have in the word to bring their loved ones back to life.
The government puts pennies before people. That is what it comes down to. The evidence is all there -- everyone knew the dangers, everybody understood the risks, they just didn't give a damn. They chose between life and money, and they chose money.
Americans don't work hard enough? Yeah, right, CNN, tell it to the dead husbands and sons and fathers and brothers at the bottom of that goddamned mine, and all the people who'll never be able to say goodbye.
The government says we're not buying enough? Well, in the words of Donald Rumsfeld, gee willikers .... you think maybe it's because no one can make a damned living wage in this country anymore? And when they do, they may find themselves at the bottom of a death trap before they can find time to spend it?
The idiocy of this is appalling, but then they have to blame somebody. Bush always takes the blame, but he never accepts responsibility, so it has to be our fault!
How can it be the fault of the workers? The working person has no choice. These rich guys at CNN Money have forgotten something ... we don't have the LUXURY of sloth! If productivity is down, then they need to look into the eyes of the overseer, not into the people on the plantation. We can't through sheer force of will compel ourselves to work for the betterment of an entity that views us as the enemy. "Right to work" states indeed. When has the poor man had the right NOT to work?
But then, this breed of modern corporation flies the flag of Thomas Malthus. Comfort is now the enemy, not the end.
And yet we know the old, humane style of business still works best. Newman's Own, Paul Newman's wonderful company, is a perfect example of "doing corporate right". Ben and Jerry's is another. Google, yet another. We know it works.
If it isn't done ... if the model is not the method ... it's due to an emotional need to assert some right of dominance over the masses. It's a psychopathic jackboot in the teeth of the people -- nothing less, nothing more. There is no logic behind it. If logic was at work, we'd all be working for Ben and Jerry's or Google. Instead, sociopathy rises to the top quickly, which is why we have the prevailing business model we do. And why we need a sane government to keep the monsters in check.
And if unions sometimes mollify and protect inept workers, and they do, then this is an artifact of the modern loss of trust -- and the long shadow of 13 year old boys who lost their hands and livelihoods to heartless machines. The so-called inflexible unions grew out of the empty promises of the Straw Boss and the cold-hearted calculation of the Overseer.
If the Bossman has become the enemy, he has cast himself in the role.
The vanishing mountains of the US south now ooze coal-poisoned rivers. West Virginia mines take lives every day in small ways, and not merely in the big headline-grabbing ones. Our heartland factories have become standing death traps the employees are nailed inside because they aren't allowed the small humanity of a bathroom break. Our Florida tourist trap employees can only afford to sleep in cars. Walmart employee must resort to state medical care. OSHA is a joke. Social security is a passing dream.
The slavering jowls of the robber-barons now savor a future without the small measures FDR put in place for simple human dignity.
And Robert Murray, co-owner of Murray Energy, owner of the Utah mines that this month saw several precious lives swallowed up in full view of the glassy stare of the governmental whores in attendance, calmly suggests he may re-open the mine. He just doesn't "get" why people are upset.
Gosh, Bob, maybe there are more important things in the world than another million dollars. Every loved one of every life extinguished at the bottom of that mine would give up every penny they have in the word to bring their loved ones back to life.
The government puts pennies before people. That is what it comes down to. The evidence is all there -- everyone knew the dangers, everybody understood the risks, they just didn't give a damn. They chose between life and money, and they chose money.
Americans don't work hard enough? Yeah, right, CNN, tell it to the dead husbands and sons and fathers and brothers at the bottom of that goddamned mine, and all the people who'll never be able to say goodbye.
The government says we're not buying enough? Well, in the words of Donald Rumsfeld, gee willikers .... you think maybe it's because no one can make a damned living wage in this country anymore? And when they do, they may find themselves at the bottom of a death trap before they can find time to spend it?
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